Photo Editing

[dank69]

My wife just mentioned to me that she is ready for an upgrade. I normally build her a tower but want to look into laptops first to see if there are options that will meet her needs without doubling/tripling the cost. She needs to be able to edit photos in Photoshop on it (1920x1200 external monitor).

What should I expect to spend for a laptop that can handle that? I don't mind adding RAM and upgrading the stock SSD if it would be more cost effective that way.

 

[MrSquished]

I do photo editing on a current year model dell xps 15 with lightroom and photomatix. this is with a 9th gen i7 6 core chip, 16gb ram and a 512gb ssd. I'm upgrading the ram to 32gb this weekend. with lightroom and photomatix open, plus like 15-20 tabs in chrome, tidal streaming and so on, i was noticing some slowdowns. if you just solo tasked it 16gb would be ok but if you do a lot at once plus future proofing 32gb is the way to go. 2x16gb ram compatible with the dell xps 15 7590 laptop was $140 on amazon, so not bad.

laptop was 2,000 but Dell was having a 17% off sale recently that may still be going on so check it out sooner than later.

 

[MrSquished]

looking on their website you could probably buy the laptop for 1399 and then upgrade the ram and ssd yourself and save some money. unless she needs a touchscreen

 

[shortylickens]

In the olden days you actually needed an above average laptop if you wanted to use Photoshop properly.
Nowadays you dont need much horsepower compared to the average system so I would be more interested in screen size and resolution, and since she's doing the work on an external monitor, its even less important.
Just dont get a chromebook or one of those barebone convertable laptops.

 

[dank69]

In the olden days you actually needed an above average laptop if you wanted to use Photoshop properly.
Nowadays you dont need much horsepower compared to the average system so I would be more interested in screen size and resolution, and since she's doing the work on an external monitor, its even less important.
Just dont get a chromebook or one of those barebone convertable laptops.

Yeah that is exactly what I am wondering: what is really needed to run Photoshop. I don't want her fighting with a machine that barely runs it but I don't want to spend an extra $500+ for features that are complete overkill. Also, if I need to spend $1500 for a laptop but can just upgrade her tower for <$500 then I won't waste time with the laptop option.

 

[MrSquished]

Yeah that is exactly what I am wondering: what is really needed to run Photoshop. I don't want her fighting with a machine that barely runs it but I don't want to spend an extra $500+ for features that are complete overkill. Also, if I need to spend $1500 for a laptop but can just upgrade her tower for <$500 then I won't waste time with the laptop option.

IF that's the case I'm selling my older dell xps 15 touch with an i7 chip and 16gb of ram for $250. It does have a single dead pixel on it but was no biggie for my tons of photo edits on it. Let me know. Thing has a brand new battery in it (literally a month old) plus I upgraded it to a samsung 950 pro 512gb m.2 drive a couple years ago.

 

[dank69]

IF that's the case I'm selling my older dell xps 15 touch with an i7 chip and 16gb of ram for $250. It does have a single dead pixel on it but was no biggie for my tons of photo edits on it. Let me know. Thing has a brand new battery in it (literally a month old) plus I upgraded it to a samsung 950 pro 512gb m.2 drive a couple years ago.

Well I tried to convince my wife but she doesn't want a used laptop...

Do you think the laptop in this thread would be suitable?

Info - Cheapest laptop with a GeForce and SSD

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-FX505DD-Gaming-Laptop-GeForce/dp/B07V336VJJ/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=&linkCode=w00&linkId=&creativeASIN=B07V336VJJ If the link does not work it's called the Asus FX505DD on Amazon.

forums.anandtech.com

Direct link to listing:

Amazon.com: ASUS - FX505DD 15.6" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 - 256GB Solid State Drive - Black: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: ASUS - FX505DD 15.6" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 - 256GB Solid State Drive - Black: Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

Will the AMD processor be a problem with Photoshop?

 

[fralexandr]

Photoshop system requirements

System requirements for running the latest release of Photoshop on macOS and Windows.

helpx.adobe.com

Yeah it should work fine.

 

[MrSquished]

Well I tried to convince my wife but she doesn't want a used laptop...

Do you think the laptop in this thread would be suitable?

Info - Cheapest laptop with a GeForce and SSD

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-FX505DD-Gaming-Laptop-GeForce/dp/B07V336VJJ/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=&linkCode=w00&linkId=&creativeASIN=B07V336VJJ If the link does not work it's called the Asus FX505DD on Amazon.

forums.anandtech.com

Direct link to listing:

Amazon.com: ASUS - FX505DD 15.6" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 - 256GB Solid State Drive - Black: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: ASUS - FX505DD 15.6" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 - 256GB Solid State Drive - Black: Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

Will the AMD processor be a problem with Photoshop?

I would go for something with 16gb of RAM vs 8, or at least make sure it is in fact upgradeable to 16gb if not.

 

[dank69]

I would go for something with 16gb of RAM vs 8, or at least make sure it is in fact upgradeable to 16gb if not.

It's got to be upgradable, right? Even if one slot I can replace with 16 or even 32 I would think. Same with SSD I should be able to swap that out if she needs it.

EDIT: Just checked and RAM is upgradable and there is even a bay for a second drive

 

[MrSquished]

It's got to be upgradable, right? Even if one slot I can replace with 16 or even 32 I would think. Same with SSD I should be able to swap that out if she needs it.

EDIT: Just checked and RAM is upgradable and there is even a bay for a second drive

yeah some aren't. Like my sisters Lenovo came with 8gb of ram but was only upgradeable to 12gb total, since 4gb was integrated with the motherboard. I don't think PS needs 16 gb itself but if you are multi tasking, that ram gets eaten up fast.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Yeah that is exactly what I am wondering: what is really needed to run Photoshop. I don't want her fighting with a machine that barely runs it but I don't want to spend an extra $500+ for features that are complete overkill. Also, if I need to spend $1500 for a laptop but can just upgrade her tower for <$500 then I won't waste time with the laptop option.

A tower is always better however modern laptops are tolerable. Is this software Photoshop proper or Lightroom or both?

The things to find out-

What kind of image files are we dealing with, JPEG, RAW, native photoshop etc.

My Canon 6D files (and I always shoot RAW because JPEG is a waste of electrons) are typically 25 megabytes. Not much eh? Start manipulating, adding layers than half a gig or more needs to be handled by the computer.

Perhaps more important than the computer (assuming it is adequate) is the monitor and bit depth of the machine and monitor. If you are passing only 8 bits then forget it. 10 honest to goodness bits and a wide gamut which usually means a fortune in a laptop or a desktop with a modern vid card and even then do research.

I know this is way more than the original question but they are factors to consider and perhaps you already know all of this so apologies if that's the case. When I hear "Photoshop" I leap at the assumption that we're dealing with a semi-pro file and attention to detail. If it's a phone JPEG for snaps then it doesn't matter as much.

 

[dank69]

A tower is always better however modern laptops are tolerable. Is this software Photoshop proper or Lightroom or both?

The things to find out-

What kind of image files are we dealing with, JPEG, RAW, native photoshop etc.

My Canon 6D files (and I always shoot RAW because JPEG is a waste of electrons) are typically 25 megabytes. Not much eh? Start manipulating, adding layers than half a gig or more needs to be handled by the computer.

Perhaps more important than the computer (assuming it is adequate) is the monitor and bit depth of the machine and monitor. If you are passing only 8 bits then forget it. 10 honest to goodness bits and a wide gamut which usually means a fortune in a laptop or a desktop with a modern vid card and even then do research.

I know this is way more than the original question but they are factors to consider and perhaps you already know all of this so apologies if that's the case. When I hear "Photoshop" I leap at the assumption that we're dealing with a semi-pro file and attention to detail. If it's a phone JPEG for snaps then it doesn't matter as much.

Thanks for the info. I personally don't know much about photography but my wife is into it when she can find time. I do know she shoots RAW. I know she has Photoshop Elements and Lightroom but they are pretty old versions and I don't know if she uses one or both. I'll have to find out. I got her a decent Dell ultra 24 a few years ago that she will be using most of the time and certainly when she edits photos. I pulled the trigger on that Asus which has a 1050 GTX so I would assume that can handle the gamut stuff you mentioned, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Thanks for the info. I personally don't know much about photography but my wife is into it when she can find time. I do know she shoots RAW. I know she has Photoshop Elements and Lightroom but they are pretty old versions and I don't know if she uses one or both. I'll have to find out. I got her a decent Dell ultra 24 a few years ago that she will be using most of the time and certainly when she edits photos. I pulled the trigger on that Asus which has a 1050 GTX so I would assume that can handle the gamut stuff you mentioned, but I don't know for sure.

The 1050 has what is needed and the dell ultra should be good for non-commercial use. The only other thing I strongly recommend is buying a color calibrator such as a Spyder and use it especially of printing is likely otherwise going to be a nightmare. I assume you have at least 16 gig of ram?

If you have questions you can always PM me and I'll have my English Springer respond

 

[dank69]

The 1050 has what is needed and the dell ultra should be good for non-commercial use. The only other thing I strongly recommend is buying a color calibrator such as a Spyder and use it especially of printing is likely otherwise going to be a nightmare. I assume you have at least 16 gig of ram?

If you have questions you can always PM me and I'll have my English Springer respond

If the 8 it comes with isn't enough I'll slap 16 or 32 in there. I'm sure RAM is pretty cheap.

No commercial use just pics of the kids mostly these days, haha.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I recently purchased a Ryzen 3 3200U laptop from walmart.com, a 14" HP for $269.99. This is WAY below what I would recommend for your wife, but it did say in the listing on walmart.com, "4GB of RAM / max 4GB of RAM". So I figured, it must be soldered on, right? Well, surprisingly, and to my benefit, it had two SO-DIMM DDR4 slots, one with a 4GB stick. I was able to easily upgrade it to 16GB (2x8GB), but they make 32GB DIMMs, and I'm almost tempted (if I want to spend the money, that is), to see, "for science", if it will take two of those 32GB DDR4 SO-DIMMs. Probably cost me more for the 64GB of RAM than the laptop cost, but I'm just curious if it will work. I'm pretty sure that it will.

The 3200U is only a 2C/4T, so not that powerful, though just fine for web browsing and Skype, nearly all that I use it for. The extra RAM helps with mountains of tabs that collect over time.

Either way, whatever laptop you get, I strongly suggest 32GB of RAM (or more) for Photoshop / Lightroom. Not that I am any kind of guru on those programs, I don't use them. But I find 32GB of RAM "pleasing to use". I had nearly 800 tabs open in Firefox Nightly one time, before I saved and closed some of them.

 

[dank69]

I recently purchased a Ryzen 3 3200U laptop from walmart.com, a 14" HP for $269.99. This is WAY below what I would recommend for your wife, but it did say in the listing on walmart.com, "4GB of RAM / max 4GB of RAM". So I figured, it must be soldered on, right? Well, surprisingly, and to my benefit, it had two SO-DIMM DDR4 slots, one with a 4GB stick. I was able to easily upgrade it to 16GB (2x8GB), but they make 32GB DIMMs, and I'm almost tempted (if I want to spend the money, that is), to see, "for science", if it will take two of those 32GB DDR4 SO-DIMMs. Probably cost me more for the 64GB of RAM than the laptop cost, but I'm just curious if it will work. I'm pretty sure that it will.

The 3200U is only a 2C/4T, so not that powerful, though just fine for web browsing and Skype, nearly all that I use it for. The extra RAM helps with mountains of tabs that collect over time.

Either way, whatever laptop you get, I strongly suggest 32GB of RAM (or more) for Photoshop / Lightroom. Not that I am any kind of guru on those programs, I don't use them. But I find 32GB of RAM "pleasing to use". I had nearly 800 tabs open in Firefox Nightly one time, before I saved and closed some of them.

Yeah if I need to upgrade I think I'll go straight to 32GB.